Finland unveils expanded border fence on Russian frontier amid hybrid warfare concerns

Finland has unveiled a 200km fence in sections along its eastern border with Russia, in a move officials say is designed to deter the possible instrumentalisation of migrants and strengthen surveillance. The barrier has been built in strategic areas and is fitted with cameras and sensors. It comes as Finland keeps its 1,340km border with Russia closed, with land crossings remaining shut until further notice.

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Interior Minister Mari Rantanen said the situation at the border was calm but tense, and warned it could change quickly. She made the comments near the Nuijamaa border crossing point in southeastern Finland, where operations were shut almost three years ago. Finland closed the border in December 2023 after the arrival of more than 1,300 migrants without visas, and officials have since reported only a few individual illegal crossings.

The Finnish Border Guard said the project was an exceptionally extensive infrastructure effort involving around 1,000 landowners and hundreds of companies. Border Guard project manager Erkki Matilainen said the fence cost €356m, with annual maintenance estimated at €2m to €3m. He said drone technology had advanced rapidly, but the fence was still seen as the best solution for crowd control.

The development matters because Finland shares a long frontier with Russia and has already accused Moscow of hybrid warfare over the arrival of third-country nationals at the border in 2023. The Kremlin denied that accusation. The issue also carries added weight because Finland joined NATO in April 2023, ending decades of military non-alignment and placing border security in a wider regional and alliance context.

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The Finnish approach mirrors measures taken by Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, which have also built fences on borders with Belarus to reduce irregular crossings. Helsinki last week proposed extending its Border Security Act until 31 December 2028, under a temporary law that allows border guards to turn away asylum seekers in certain circumstances. The law can be applied for one month at a time in limited areas if sovereignty and national security are judged to be under threat.

What remains unclear is whether the border will stay closed for a prolonged period and whether Finland will need to expand the fence further. Officials have said the current situation is calm, but they have also stressed that conditions could change rapidly. The next key issue is how the proposed extension of the Border Security Act will be handled and whether border pressure changes in the months ahead.

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